


i like you so much better when you're naked

by kathillards



Series: girls like girls [3]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Megaforce
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 21:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4762415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathillards/pseuds/kathillards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time she sees Gia naked, she is fifteen and just starting to understand the way she feels about girls. ―- EmmaGia</p>
            </blockquote>





	i like you so much better when you're naked

**Author's Note:**

> i've been meaning to write emma/gia for ages, so of course it only happened at the spur of the moment at midnight. 
> 
> warning for nudity, obviously, but it's nothing graphic. likewise, mentions of sex, but nothing overt. the story is far more about feelings than sex, i promise.
> 
> also warning for wounds/injuries? i didn't describe it in great detail but it's there.

**i like you so much better when you're naked**

_all the clever things i should say to you_  
_they got stuck somewhere, stuck between me and you_  
_oh, i’m nervous, i don’t know what to do_

― ida maria, i like you so much better when you’re naked

-:-

The first time she sees Gia naked, she is fifteen and just starting to understand the way she feels about girls.

She’s at Gia’s house, in her bright yellow bedroom, lying on the bed with her math books spread out in front of her. It’s a normal Tuesday afternoon, at least until Gia comes out of her bathroom wearing only a towel, her hair wet and just starting to curl at the edges. Emma tries not to stare.

“How’s the homework coming?” Gia asks as she stops in front of her standing mirror, right across from her bed. Emma glances up once, then back down quickly.

“I’m stuck on some of these trig problems,” she mutters, running her eraser over a line in her notebook. “But the calculus part is easier than I thought it would be.”

“Let me see it in a minute,” Gia offers with a smile, and then she drops the towel.

Something inside Emma flips and somersaults over. She feels dizzy, in a good way, unable to look away as Gia reaches for her clothes on the dresser, as casual as if she weren’t standing naked in front of her best friend. She’s not sure if Gia notices the staring, but if she does, she doesn’t comment.

The only girl Emma has seen naked before is herself in the mirror. She’s always known Gia is beautiful, but she finds her eyes trailing over every smooth curve of her body, the droplets clinging to her pale skin, the parts of her she’d only ever dreamed about seeing in quiet, secret nights. Every inch of bare skin that she’s ever thought about with illicit thrills running up her veins is on display for what feels like an eternity.

Gia slips on her underwear and asks, “Is that essay for English due in two days or three?”

Emma blinks and looks away, heat filling her cheeks. “Three days,” she answers, and lets herself sneak one more look in time to see Gia covering up the rest of her body with a large yellow shirt. She swallows and looks back down at her homework. Math seems like it belongs on another planet right now.

“Are you okay?” Gia asks in concern, pulling on shorts underneath and coming over to settle on the edge of the bed, facing Emma. “You seem distracted.”

“I’m fine,” Emma says quickly, her mind full of Gia’s angles and curves and the way her bare skin looks in the bright light of the afternoon sun filtering in through her window. She slides the math book over to Gia to show her the problems, and Gia’s hand brushes her, a casual, intimate touch.

Emma pulls back and can still feel tingles at her fingertips for an hour afterwards.

-:-

The first time she lets Gia see her naked, she is sixteen and she’s kissed a boy and still doesn’t like them that way.

They’re at Noah’s house, in one of his guest bedrooms, and she’s lying on the bed, bleeding and injured, while the boys are downstairs discussing how to beat the monster that nearly killed her. Gia’s locked the two of them inside with a first aid kit and refuses to leave until Emma lets her see the injury.

“It’s not that bad,” she insists, even though it _is_ that bad, but Gia levels her a look and she sighs. “Fine, okay, you can look, just be careful.”

“Because it actually is that bad?” Gia mutters, sitting down on the bed next to her and slowly, gently, peeling her shirt up to see the wound. “Holy _shit_ , Emma.”

Emma squeezes her eyes shut and tries to concentrate on neither the pain of the injury nor Gia’s fingers skimming softly alongside it on her bare skin. The effort isn’t very successful. “How does it look?” she asks meekly.

“Terrible,” Gia says honestly, lifting her shirt up higher. “It’s stopped bleeding, which is lucky for your clothes. Jesus fuck, how high up does this go?”

Emma tries not to think about the pain reaching all the way to her chest and down to her hips. The monster had been _brutally_ efficient. “I’m not sure,” she lies, and Gia frowns at her. “You can take my shirt off, if you have to.”

“I do have to,” Gia says, carefully doing just that, leaving Emma feeling almost naked even though she’s still wearing her shorts and bra. She starts dabbing the wound with a cotton ball and the antiseptic on it burns. Emma hisses through her teeth. “Sorry,” she says apologetically. “It’s not as deep as it could have been, but it is wide. How far down does it go?”

“Far,” Emma admits, guessing that Gia will check whether she lies or not. She’s right; Gia hesitates only a moment before reaching to unbutton her shorts. Emma squirms a bit at the cold rush of air and Gia’s fingers gingerly pushing both her shorts and underwear down to see the wound. She doesn’t move either very much, since the wound stops at her hip, but it’s far enough for Emma to feel completely naked anyway.

“Are you okay?” Gia asks in concern, lifting her hands to reach for the first-aid kit. “Let me know if it’s hurting, okay?”

“It is,” Emma says, but lies still as Gia sets about alleviating the pain as best she can. They’ve all gotten familiar with first-aid kits over the past year, but sometimes, they still end up with injuries that seem to surpass the capabilities of their kits. The wound does start to feel a little better by the time there’s a knock on the door.

“Is everything good on there?” Noah asks through the door.

“Hang on, I’m just finishing up,” Gia calls back. She finishes securing the gauze wrap around Emma’s torso and carefully helps her sit up. “Are you feeling better?”

“A little,” Emma says, wincing as her ribs adjust to the movement. She makes herself sit up straight, adjusting her shorts back up and taking her shirt as Gia offers it. “Thanks.”

Gia smiles and helps her turn the shirt right side out and slide it over her head. “What are friends for?” she asks lightly. Emma doesn’t answer, just takes the hand Gia gives her to help her off the bed, and returns the smile when she can stand, albeit shakily.

“Your powers will help you recuperate faster, so you should be back to normal in no time,” Noah explains when Gia unlocks the door to let them out.

“Great,” Emma says, but she’s thinking less of her already-fading wound and more of the way Gia’s fingers felt running over her skin, soft and cool and unerringly gentle on her body.

When she looks at Gia again, she can’t help but think that maybe she’s thinking about that, too.

-:-

The second time she lets Gia see her naked, she is seventeen and knows that she likes girls more than boys.

They’re getting ready for prom in Emma’s bedroom, and Gia has a date, and Emma doesn’t. It doesn’t bother her too much, but in the span of two years, she’s helped save the world and she’s kissed Ally Martinez under the bleachers and she’s fought monsters and she’s let Caity James take her shirt off, and she knows, she _knows_ the way she feels about Gia isn’t a fluke, isn’t wrong, isn’t just fleeting.

But Gia’s going to the prom with Jake, and Emma is never, ever going to mess that up. Jake is her friend and Gia is her best friend and if Gia likes boys, she has to let her like boys. That’s what friends do.

“I don’t think that dress is working for you,” Gia announces after Emma models her first choice for her. It’s five hours before the prom, and both of them have been far too busy to dress-shop, given the world almost ending, so they’ve decided to hold an impromptu dress session with all their favorite formal dresses in her room.

“No?” Emma looks down at the bright pink bubble skirt. “I got it ages ago. Dad thought it would be cute.”

“Maybe when you were fourteen,” Gia snorts. “It looks a little snug, too. I think you might have grown out of this one, Emma.”

Emma sighs. “Dad will be crushed. I only wore it once to my piano recital in freshman year,” she says, but Gia is right, so she heads back into her walk-in closet to change. In the mirror, she sees herself, dressed in bright pink, and thinks about a time when she wore that same shade in spandex. It was only a few months ago, but she’s hit with nostalgia anyway.

“Need any help?” Gia calls after a moment of silence as Emma struggles with the zipper.

“Yeah, could you unzip it for me?” she calls back, and Gia slides the door open to join her in front of the mirror. Sweeping her hair aside, she waits for Gia to find the tiny zipper and pull it down.

“This thing does not want to unzip,” Gia mutters, steadying her other hand on Emma’s waist for balance. Emma tries not to think about the sensation spiraling from her hip to the rest of her body as Gia slowly inches the zipper down. “What’s your next dress?”

“That one,” Emma says, nodding to a long, dark pink dress hanging nearby. It’s silky and soft, peppered with sparkles, one of her favorites. “I was just worried about the neckline. I’ve never worn it before.”

Gia eyes it critically over her shoulder. “It’s beautiful. Super low, though. You definitely couldn’t wear a bra with that. I think you’d have to tape it to your boobs or something.”

Emma laughs. “You should stick around, I might need your help with that, too,” she says, only half teasing. Gia meets her gaze in the mirror and looks uncertain for half a second – which is entirely too long for Gia to look uncertain. Emma can count on one hand the number of times Gia has had less than perfect confidence.

“I’ll stay,” she says lightly, pulling the zipper all the way down with a grunt of success. “I got it! Let’s see the next one.”

Suddenly, Emma feels hesitant. She’s changed in front of Gia before, but never like this, never so close – even when Gia moves away a few steps to let her shrug out of the bubblegum dress. If she thinks about it too long, she can still feel Gia’s breath warm on her neck.

But she doesn’t think about it. Gia has a date, and she likes boys, and that’s that. She pulls off the dress and discards it on the closet floor before quickly reaching back and unclasping her bra. She tosses it off before she can think too much about it, refusing to let herself catch Gia’s eye in the mirror as she goes to grab the next dress from its hanger.

It’s not a big deal, she tells herself as she fumbles with getting the dress off the hanger. She and Gia have changed in front of each other before. Okay, Gia’s never seen her in less than her underwear or a bikini, but it’s not like those leave a lot to the imagination, anyway. Besides, Gia doesn’t care. Gia is comfortable being naked around her, so why shouldn’t she be as well?

She chances one glance over at Gia as she pulls the dress off and steps into it. Gia is staring at her, the heat of her gaze warm enough to make Emma flush bright red, but the look on her face is neither blank nor casual.

If she looks at her for too long, she might find desire written in her eyes, so she doesn’t. Instead, she slides the dress up her body and reaches back to get the zipper.

“Here, let me,” Gia says, coming forward again to zip her up. “You look beautiful in that.”

Emma smooths down the front of the dress, looking at her reflection in the mirror. “It’s a really pretty dress,” she agrees, adjusting the neckline. Gia was right – it’s too low for a bra, but there’s padding inside the dress that makes it stay properly. When Gia tightens the zipper up all the way, the dress settles into place quite nicely.

“You’re gonna break some hearts tonight,” Gia laughs, her hands lingering on Emma’s waist for a moment before she steps back. “Save me a dance, yeah?”

Emma smiles at her in the mirror. “Always,” she says softly. Gia smiles back, and it almost feels like a moment. Almost.

-:-

The second time she sees Gia naked, she is nineteen and so very tired of keeping a secret from her best friend.

Gia knows she likes girls by now – they’re in college, Emma has dated girls and never boys, and liking girls hasn’t been a secret she’s kept in almost two years – but she’s never told Gia about the way she felt about her in high school and, if she’s being totally honest with herself, the way she still feels about her now, every time they get together for a mall day or a spa date, or Gia comes by her apartment to rant about boys.

“And I’m not _mad_ at him,” she’s saying now as she paces in Emma’s tiny living room. “I just don’t want what he wants and I don’t know how to make him see that.”

Emma blinks. She’s forgotten if they’re still talking about Jake or that guy from her physics lab or whoever now. Gia hasn’t seriously dated anyone in about five months, but sometimes she still has dates, and every time those dates finish, she has a new reason to come to Emma’s place.

“Wait, is this about your whole friends with benefits thing?” she asks, looking up at Gia from the couch as her friend stops and turns to frown at her. “I thought Jake was cool with that.”

“He says he is,” Gia sighs, flopping down next to her. “But I think sometimes he still wants more, and, you know, we tried that and it didn’t work, but I don’t wanna lose him and – ”

“You don’t want to lose him as a friend?” Emma interrupts, raising her eyebrows. “Then stop having sex with him.”

Gia stares at her for a minute, mouth open in the process of replying, but no words come out. Emma’s never been quite so blunt with her before. “It’s not that – ” she starts to say, but Emma shakes her head.

“It _is_ that easy, Gia. Tell me, honestly, why are you still sleeping with him when you guys broke up half a year ago?”

This time, Gia is silent for a good while longer than before. Emma almost gets impatient before she finally answers, her voice much quieter than it had been just a moment ago. “Because I’m scared of what will happen if I admit I don’t like him anymore.”

Emma frowns at her in confusion. “If you don’t like _Jake_ anymore? Gia, you never liked Jake. Not once in high school did you seriously like Jake. You gave him a chance, and it didn’t work out. It’s not your fault if he’s still hung up on you – ”

“Not _him_ him,” Gia sighs, burying her head in her hands. “Him as in… as in boys. As in, having sex with boys.”

Emma’s heart does that flipping thing again. “Oh.”

Gia lifts her head up to look at her helplessly. “How did you know, Emma?”

She doesn’t know how to say, _I knew since the day I met you, because you smiled at me and I thought you were the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, I knew it when I hated that boy you went out with in middle school, I knew it when I saw you naked and all I could dream about for months afterwards was you_.

So, she says, “I kissed a boy in sophomore year and I didn’t feel anything.”

Gia sighs and drops her head back onto the couch. “But what if I _do_ feel something? What if I feel something but I also – what if I like a girl at the same time?”

“That’s fine,” Emma says, reaching out to take her hand. “You know I love you anyway. Jake will be fine, too. We’ll all still be your best friends no matter who you love or when or how.”

Gia looks down at their intertwined fingers, then looks her straight in the eyes. “What if that girl was you?”

-:-

The third and fourth and fifth and millionth times she sees Gia naked are later that day, that month, that year.

It’s not so much about desire as it is about love, about wanting Gia without feeling scared and shameful and guilty about it, about taking off her clothes in front of her without hesitation, without wondering how she feels about seeing her naked, without locking up her secret wishes and never telling a soul.

She wants to tell every soul. She wants to shout it off rooftops. _I love Gia Moran_ – she thinks it must be tattooed in her smile, in her hands, in her laugh. Jake says he’s never seen her happier, and she finds that his smile is genuine, too. Troy and Noah and Orion congratulate them, and Noah says he knew ages ago, and Troy just rolls his eyes, but she thinks he must have known ages ago, too.

She’s stopped keeping count of every touch, every stolen gaze, every time she sees her naked or vice versa. _Naked_ is a word from when she kept her heart and her body a secret from the girl she loved. High school was for secrets, but high school is over.

“I love you,” she tells Gia later that day, the very first day they kissed, the very first time they ended up in bed together without any of their clothes. In high school, she would have thought she was going too fast, too much, too soon, but Gia only smiles and kisses her again.

“I love you, too,” she says, and that’s it. No more secrets. Just them and the sheets and the way Gia laughs and the way she touches her, soft and sweet and gentle. Just the two of them and the open air and the sunshine that makes Gia’s skin shimmer, the way it always has.


End file.
